Restoring a 1983 Acorn Electron 8bit Computer
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- Опубліковано 26 сер 2024
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The Acorn Electron ticked almost all of the low cost computer boxes, a solid keyboard, a tried and tested CPU, a great BASIC and a hungry audience, but it just didn't catch a break against the strength of the ZX Spectrum sales and missing its Christmas release date cost it dearly. That's not to say we shouldn't give it some TLC though. In today's restoration we revive it inside and out in a joint effort to take this computer from Trash to Treasure.
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#RetroTech #Restoration #AcornElectron
Announcement!!!! The wrong font on the label is my fault. I told Neil it was "close enough" and "we won't get it exact"... Oh how wrong I was! Thanks to everyone pointing out that the proper font is Rockwell.
Oh nice one! I'll knock up another with Rockwell, thanks everyone
@@RMCRetro Maybe browner this time too..? ;-)
Phew! I'm pleased you spotted that. The Electron was my first micro too. I tried to hide my disappointment as all my mates had Spectrums and Commodores. So about 6 months later I had saved up enough pocket money to get my very own ZX Spectrum+ 48k which I tell people was my first micro. Sorry Acorn for all the lies!
Should have gone with Comic Sans.
Mark, had you been sat at that desk all this time since the last vid? lol
A landlord who comes to the party with a desoldering gun instead of dodgy lights... think you have struck gold there Neil
My landlord only ever comes with increase in rent (even in freakin covid time), while still living in a piece of old junk, leaks, mould and I can hear my neighbors as if they are like my roommates.
@@p_mouse8676 textbook rent-seeking behaviour.
I suspect Neil’s case just happened to have the top floor free after they needed to move offices, and are possibly sub-letting. Landlord by circumstance. Whereas I suspect yours owns a few dozen properties and set out deliberately to do so from the beginning. Landlord by intention, with far too many properties to actually keep in good fashion.
That’s just my 2 pence though.
Not wrong there!
@@kaitlyn__L In my case, actually no not that kind of landlord at all. They only have like an handful of properties.
But the culture here is grap as much as you can grap when it comes to money.
All morals out of the window.
Sorry if that sounds a bit grumpy. It just one of these things that bothers me sometimes.
@@kaitlyn__L Almost every landlord I had bar maybe 1 over the years messed me around in some fashion, the one that didn't was a elderly couple who had been landlords for about 30 years, I had one that let me live in a property that he wasn't bothered about roof leaks and mould got so bad I called enviromental health who said it was borderline dangerous, as in any worse and I'd have to move out, LL then came round and tried illegally evicting me and making threats of violence and twisting enviromental healths words to "they said its perfectly livable, and nothing wrong with it" Had another that to be fair was due to another property above that he didn't own (then again the SAME issue occured every 3 years on average) my bathroom ceiling collapsed and there was black mould everywhere and all carpets in property were soaked through, he expected me to clean myself and told me he wasn't going let me stay in one of his empty properties even for a few days, at least out of that I got social/council housing that I live in to this day but in 15 years of renting I had so many issues, illegally evicted three times, landlords not doing repairs - like another with a roofing issue blamed me as he claimed his workmen turned up and either I refused them entry or I didn't answer my phone or the door, there was no outside buzzer to ring up to me, and no one rang me so at one point had multiple buckets throughout my 1 bedroom home, the same landlord whinged how (by his own choice) had a child and how he couldn't now afford to do repairs as a child was expensive, shame he told me this why he had a newly released top of the range iphone in his hand, wore all branded premium clothes and drove a very expensive huge car, and his wife was the same except her phone was latest Samsung. When I moved out I spent £40 on cleaning products, literally about 20 hours cleaning everything I could including standing on chairs to dust above frames, hired a industrial carpet clean machine and landlord claimed I had not cleaned once in three years and "trashed" the property. they in front of me realigned furniture to make smallest things seem huge and even pulled the plastic sheet from base of sofa making it look like it was ripped off so he could charge me for a new sofa (the sofa itself looked brand new!) I could write a literal book with my experiences!
Oh this was so lovely to see, this was the first microcomputer I owned, too. I was a late bloomer, mind - mother purchased it for £5 at a school fete in the early 90's but that didn't detract from the thrill of learning BASIC and copy-typing listings from Acorn User magazines.
Thank you for keeping this one alive 🥰
Just stumbled across your channel and started on a trip down memory lane. The Acorn Electron was also my first computer, my parents purchased it from Dixons bundled with a tape deck and a CRT TV in the mid eighties. Armed with my Electron and a copy of the BBC Model B User Guide which my Dad had "borrowed" from work I started on my journey to becoming a programmer. 30+ years later I am still on that journey but the Electron does hold a very fond place in my memory.
The banter kills me, I love this format. More Mark!
Neil moved to the Mill Mansion - and up in the world. He now has a solder-boy while he is doing artsy stuff. :P
i really dig the two of them tackling projects together. i think they could handle pretty much anything. except maybe a jaguar cd repair.
I was lucky enough to have a private computer tutor after school in the early 80s to help me with computing as my High School teaching wasn't very good at the time. I think the Maths teachers were lumped with the task and they didn't know much either back then. My tutor provided me with an Acorn Electron and a BBC A or B so I didn't have to use my Spectrum 4ik for programming at the time. Albeit I normally gamed on my Spectrum, but I learnt more in my first lesson then I had in two years at school back then! Instead of copy typing a programme from a magazine to my Spectrum I managed to create one myself in BASIC on the Electron so I have very fond memories due to this. Thanks for the video Neil. I wish I could relive those days with the knowledge I have now, and also the money to squirrel away a lot of old tech such as this to enjoy right now once again.
Oh god I love watching him clean things. There's just something so therapeutic about that voice. It gently works its way into my brain and scrubs the years clean away.
I could watch this man clean a bathroom. Sometimes I wish he'd clean me. I just want him to take me outside, strip me down and then douse me up in Retrobrite. I'd just stand there with my arms reached for the sky shouting "Yes Neil, clean me too like the trash I am!" while he scrubbed me with a 6ft brush, then rinsed me off after with a firehose.
Then afterwards we'd go inside and he'd whisper to me about genuine Sanwa arcade parts while I'd polish his head with a soft felt cloth.
In the next DIY episode we'd like to see the compartment where Mark is stored when he's not in use.
That is wht Neil has a door on the storage area.
I have an Acorn Electron that's languished in the cupboard for a few years now too. I got it in a charity shop but never even got around to testing it! I guess I ought to give mine a go too now...
I quite liked the green decal. Maybe it doesn't pick up on camera how bad the condition of the old sticker was?
It was grim but not without charm
@@RMCRetro sounds like my ex-wife
@@RMCRetro If it was the original, I would have kept that one.
@@thedogwooddandy 🤣🤣🤣🤣
I'm not sure the condition was bad, it was just completely the wrong colour. It was never green back in the day.
Happy to see people find their significant other!
You two have an amazing chemistry, the videos are instantaneously four times the fun!
Thank you for this. My first computer that I actually owned was an Electron, and I think it's still somewhere in my Mum's house. It was a hand-me-down from a very kind former colleague/supervisor of my father who passed away around the same time in 1992. I can't remember if I even had the chance to thank him, but I do remember using it and playing some early form of a football manager game on the machine, and loading games from tape. It started me on a (admittedly expensive) journey into computing, and while I don't directly work in computing, it has been helpful in every step of the way in my surgical career. And yes, I didn't realise it at the time but I suspect that the keyboard on the Electron probably spoiled me.
So, David Edwards, thank you. I don't know where you are or if you are still around, but thank you.
David Edwards we salute you. I wonder if the game might have been Kevin Tom's Football Manager?
Lovely restoration. As a typography nerd I have to add that you used Courier Bold on the label instead of the original Rockwell. Should be an easy thing to fix though :)
Thank you! It was bugging me too haha
Yeah, I noticed it wasn't the exact font, but I don't know about "easy". Fonts cost money, after all.
@@TrollDecker True, but if you own a Mac, for example, Rockwell is included in the system fonts. If you have to buy it outright, it costs £39 on fonts.com. I don’t think that would break the bank.
Typography nerds are cool :-). Bought a book on typography and it turned me in to one!
@@milk-it Cool! I grew up in a family of printers and worked in design and prepress for quite some time. I studied type specimen books as a kid and became the go-to typeface expert in several workplaces, haha.
I genuinely Yay'd Out Loud when the ULA cleaning worked and it booted. If you're ever thinking of doing an episode looking at modern Electron games, that's something I'd definitely watch.
The two of you have a passion that comes across in the videos.
This was a fun video and really makes me happy to be subbed to the channel!
Thanks Carl we do love doing these vids together
Yeah I was going to say the same. The vids are much more fun. The single person talking head videos of all the other retro shows are nice, but RMC and Retro Recipes are really setting the bar to a new level by having co-hosts as much as possible. group dynamics. The shows make it feel less like a singular hobby alone in your room and more like there is a community out there.
@@epremeaux They have taken the channel to new heights.
It has always been quality, but it just keeps getting better and better!
you two make a great double act......great vid even without any double entendres 😂😂😂
I've never thought about how clean and cool the design of this computer is, but it really is!
I remember when I worked in a school. The school got a grant and they subsequently gave me the task of clearing a store room.
The room contained Acorns, BBC Micros and Mac plus and SE versions.
Most of it ended up in a skip.
I'm glad you are bringing them back to life.
Yeah, I remember picking up BBC micros and Cub CRTs back in the early 90s for nothing, and seeing dozens of them going into skips. If only I'd had space to store them. I also recall foolishly throwing out my RISC PC back in 2005 or so because I couldn't be bothered to pack it.
We all have "what we're we thinking?" stories. I know my family sent many C64s with disk drives and monitors, IBM 286s, 386s, 486s, endless old tech to the recyclers.
If people hadn't thrown them away they would be valuable now. Also back then MicroMart magazine was the only real way to sell, a process that took about a month. I thought I was doing well buying computers for a couple of £s and selling them in Micromart for £20 each. Two that I still have are a working rubber key Spectrum bought complete with cassette recorder for £1 and a working Atari ST bought for £3.
I love these episodes with Mark. He is a bit goofy, in a good way! The dynamics between the two is so genuine and enjoyable.
My first computer was an Electron and still have it now in the garage, together with the Plus 1 and Plus 3 disk interface (the latter ironically cost more than the computer itself!). Had various programs published in the Electron User magazine as listings too. It played a huge part in my life and invariably set me on my career path in IT. Great computer and great to see some loving care being given to one again. Must power mine up again one day.
Much like Mark, the Electron was also my very first computer! It’s hard to overstate Acorn’s contribution to the world of computing. Enjoyed this one. 🙂
Me too. Did you ask for it specifically to learn to code?
Back in the 80s, in the "micro in every classroom" days, it was common for computers to be sent home with teachers for the holidays, so as not to be stolen. Both my parents were teachers, so I had a BBC Micro with all the goodies (DOUBLE disc drive, no less, and TWO printers!) over every school holiday. Later there were Archimedes too. It made the school term even more depressing, since I had no computer at all then.
@@grahamlewis6777 I didn't, I would have been 6 or 7 years old at the time, although I do remember typing in listings with my dad. I was very much from a "consoles are a waste of time because you can't use them for proper work" family - it must have served me well as I run a software development business today!
My uncle worked for Acorn, and I had one in Xmas 82 when I was 12! I loved it. I am still in programming now (although now not much BASIC, more c#, Java, SQL etc.)
Glad i got myself one gives me a smile hearing that bep at turn on , takes me back to being 14 again
Soldering with no mat on these beautiful brand new wooden tables. SACRILEGE!
They don't respect the wood.
Yes man! Showing me the love I deserve 😂😂🕹🕹👍🏻👍🏻
Keep up the good work fellas and stay safe!
Glad you're being safe and using rubbers! Amazing work, as always.
Ah, Finally! The first computer that was ever carried into my childhood home when I was about 4 or 5. I can still remember being amazed at characters appearing on the big living room CRT TV screen when I pushed the keys.
Yes exactly. You raised a long forgotten memory with your comment. I was amazed at just that.
@@cardinalnight3883 Being a techy historian, that is about the nicest thing anybody has every said to me.
Syntax error!
Love it when you remove a decal and you see what colour it's supposed to be :)
As somebody closer to Neil's appearance, I'm very jealous of Mark's hair
Those Sony TVs really bring back memories for me, as I had one for my 16th birthday and spent many happy times playing on my Spectrum +2 and later on PS1.
Notice how the plot device is employed, cleverly. That the doughnut box is EMPTY!
1:48 Poor Mark makes a fire insurance joke. Hope him and his family are recovering ok and all.
Before old computers became rare, I used the dishwasher for the plastic casing and keycaps (with the keykaps in a closed basket so they won't be all over the place) of all kinds of computers. It always worked fantastically. If I would've taken up retrogaming nowadays, I would never have taken that risk.
Whilst I had a spectrum when about 13 in the early 80's (donated by my sisters boyfriend who didn't have a purpose for it) which I loved,I begged my mum for an Electron a year or so later to learn to program. I was so chuffed when I received one second hand for Xmas, and read every page of the manual and learned some 6502 assembler. Great manual... Ended up doing computer science and becoming a C dev later. The electron must have been an entry point for so many coders without much dosh to splash. Anyone else learn coding from this thing?
My first computer in 1984 £125!!! From Boots. Had to save up half first, mistake as I was so keen didn't wait 3 weeks for the Atari 400 to come back in stock. Can't believe we paid £3.95 to £9.95 for games...
You can print a qr-code with link to corresponding youtube video, and place it near the exhibition items. btw, thanks for a great channel!
You guys make a killer duo. More with Mark please :)
It was actually Christmas '83 that had all the unfulfilled shop orders due to the failure rate of the ULAs... the Electron was originally planned for 1982 but wasn't even close to being finished for Christmas '82. If they'd managed to fulfil all the orders for Christmas '83, that really would have changed the balance of the UK computer market... as well as avoiding the infamous unwanted stockpile of Electrons in 1984 that crippled Acorn. By Christmas '84 (when my parents got us one when my older brother asked for a C64!), the Spectrum and C64 were then too established and the the Amstrad managed to take 3rd place... only dedicated software houses seemed to bother with the Electron...
"While we washed our bibs and bobs, Neil regaled me with tales of all the murders he did."
With all the copies of Elite Neil has, David Braben should be happy. Maybe there could be an RMC episode on the story behind the series as there was more than a little drama (both personal and legal) along with years between sequels. I did note that the speaker on this Electron looked like it had been stuck in using chewing gum.
To me the Electron will always be associated with Chuckie Egg. In 1985 a housemate had one sat in the lounge toplay with when we came back from the pub. I don't recall if he even had any other games.
Deathstar/Sinistar was great fun on the Electron
Ok new idea for some daytime tv. Good morning with Neil and Mark. Basically it’s like this morning without all the crap cooking, weather, outside broadcasting. It’s the two of them messing with old computers and consoles with the odd guest on. 3 hours a day 5 days a week :)
I also own that duster. It is FAR more powerful than it has any right being, and it is driven so hard the air becomes very hot very fast.
You need to play the computer chronicles theme music as you slowly stand up and walk across the studio to another position.
Great video. I really like the retro-reno of old machines. It's great to pick up techniques and enjoyable to see pieces of history preserved.
I just want to give a little tip.... The absolute best soap that I have come across, are Ariel or OMO washing machine soap. The powdered type. Just dissolve a tablespoon in water, and it eats away every type of grease and stuff in 15 minutes. Of course it does not retrobright. Just test it, next time you do any keycaps.
EDIT:
Also.... On the gold fingered expansion ports. Using IPA are a bit overkill in these times, with the shortage of IPA due the Pandemic. Use a stadler branded erasor, and then gently wipe off the contacts with your thumb, going away from the PCB. Give a gentle wipe with cotton pads and it is all ok. The main point is not to have any leftover chunks from the erasor. This way you get a shiny finish and you still get 100% perfect electrical contact.
Brilliant episode. I miss my Electron, it had to be sold along with my SMS back in 1990 to help put some money towards the the Amiga 500 I was getting for Christmas. I still have the Amiga 500 sat here today, still working too.
Great job, beautiful machine. I too was gifted with an Electron in Xmas of 1984 although I'd got myself a ZX81 a few months earlier so it wasn't quite my first love when it came to microcomputers.
I'd done the laziest of hacks and left the keyboard unscrewed but connected so that I could mute the machine by unplugging the speaker at night (I can still hear Mum screeching "turn that thing off!")
Kind of glad I didn't get the ZX Spectrum I was hoping for now as I learnt to program BASIC on the Electron. My parents got it on 'HP' from Rumbelows - paying about £400 after interest I think(!) Best investment in my future ever and money was incredibly tight back then so I'm to this day incredibly grateful.
That Plus One did actually have a joystick port though it was only useful for a handful of games. Voltmace produced a single and twin analogue joystick with no heed paid to ergonomics mind. It was kind of useful for home-made paint programs though as well as my own projects.
Sadly none of my software remains, neither my shoot-em-up 'AHAYWEH' which I didn't have the courage to send to a mag despite my mates insistence nor my conversion of Tetris. I had more fun programming than playing games on it - something which would have been unlikely with that coveted Speccy. Yes Blagger was a b*tch of a game!
Happy memories - great video!
Well done chaps! looks amazing after you finished, but I do feel some retrobrighting would have made it even better. It's very yellow. Still though, it functions and looks 100% better than it did, I truly hope anyone that plays with it enjoys it. I would love an Acorn Electron
I loved the Electron. I had one when I was a kid and had a black and white TV to go with it. Best game I ever played on it was Bandits At 3 O’Clock.
I remember that game I think it was called Dogfight on my Beeb.
Didn't have a colour TV in my room for years as a kid, but managed to pick up a tatty amstrad cpc with colour monitor cheap, so that became my go to screen for my electon, both much loved computers.
The Bob Ross of computer restoration videos :D
I completed Blagger... in about 2009 with save states! It took forever.
I find a nice IPA helps me accomplish lots of things! Oh, not that kind of IPA?
Cleaning stuff with IPA while drinking an IPA is a win-win!
@@mcostafernando Unless you get them mixed up
1:40 How prophetic!
"We're going to be safe and use a rubber" Cheeky ;)
That was once my first computer. Loved it to bits.
Really enjoy seeing these old British micros. As an American, I grew up with Ataris and Commodores.
Nice point. I grew up in Australia with Commodores and PCs, but one school I attended had BBC Micro Acorns, which I still remember playing Settlement on and loved it!
The Commodore 64 was popular in the U.K. as well. The reason we had so many computers was that in the early 1980s the Government had a big drive on computer literacy and was telling parents that if their children didn't learn how to use computers they would be unemployable. Watch the docudrama "Micro Men" here on UA-cam to see the stories of Acorn (who made the Electron) and their rival Sinclair.
More Neil and Mark repairing old computers is always good in my book
Regaled me with tales of how many copies of elite he has? What?
This looks like such fun. Perhaps one day I'll make my way across the pond for a visit if the world ever returns to normal.
3:13 If I see one more common Q-tip used to clean electronics here, I'll send some proper technical, lint-free cotton buds over.
Challenge accepted
American watching this channel "We're going to be safe here and use a rubber" - Well that's just being safe isn't it?! Wait this is about computers?
Not only did it miss the 82 Christmas, but in 84 Amstrad got in on the market with the CPC package deal.
Those hole covers for the table bolts make pretty awesome screw holders :-)
Nicely done! I restored an electron a couple of years ago that looked like it had been left in an old shed for years. Actual living things scuttled out when I cleaned the keyboard. Very satisfying and yes I also had to clean the ULA socket. Great vid.
13:55 faith in humanity restored, he called it a rubber'! 👍
He wanted to do it safely, so of course he needed a rubber.
...I'll show myself out.
I always love when Mark and Neil collaborate.
Something about this pair reminds me of the hairy bikers.
The nerdy bikers.
I got to level 2 of Blagger once! I was very proud.
I still have my Electron upstairs in the loft. I noticed the Panasonic 3DO in the background too. The 3DO was an interesting concept, a console made under license by different manufacturers. Mine was made by Goldstar, who became part of LG.
I should point out that I also had a Commodore CDTV too. They're probably quite rare, an Amiga 500 in a hi-fi unit case with a CD-ROM drive. Made redundant by the CD32 really.
Why am I convinced my Electron had a green decal? 🧐
This was a lovely computer but it wasn’t the coolest one to have when all my friends had Speccys and C64s…
Realy nice video! And very good teamwork! Hope to see more like this!
Greetings, Doc64!
I'd quite like an ASMR version of this. All that talk od mucky sockets would be so good in barely audible whispers with up close IPA earbud cleaning noises.
Another fine restoration Neil and Mark. Really interesting seeing that ULA and the socket, I'm going to be watching more on the Electron and it's history. I didn't catch much of this machine in the past and it's still not a system you see all that much even today, but I'm rather interested to find out more now. Thanks.
those trinitrons looks kickass
you should add crt monitor stand for each one
The plastic tabs on either end of the keyboard were just push fit into place, no glue or silicon. I used to repair electrons, BBC micros, Archimedes, etc for one of the UK's biggest distis. If you have questions, do ask
Such a great computer. Back in the early 90s I had an Electron with the Plus 1 and Plus 3 3.5 inch disk drive interface. Wish I still had it, worth an absolute fortune now :(
I had a PRES AP3 and 3.5" drive, it cost me £150 (in early-90s money) saved up from my free newspaper delivery round. I still have it too, although I've not touched it for years.
Love to see Electrons living on. I lost many hours to Blagger!
Thank you Tom!
My 1980's home computer together with a BBC Micro (on and off) and in my humble opinion, both had the best home computer BASIC.
My first computer!!! 😃😃😃🤗
I absolutely adore the lineup of all those crts on the tables, as I type this I'm also surrounded by the 7 crts I have in my gameroom.
Grrr. I've just bought an Electron. I just couldn't be without that keyboard in my life anymore!
Love the exhibition space. 👍
Yeah mention for Elite there. Rob Nicholson here, developer of the MSX, Atari ST and Amiga versions... 35 years ago
Bravo!! My first computer bought from Rumbelows in 1984 for £60 with a load of chequered boxed games. Loved it great memories
so happy you and Mark have teamed up. double the fun!
I actually liked that green label ^^
You guys need a better fume extraction setup for doing soldering and desoldering! Those rosin flux fumes are going to do a number on your lungs if you're not careful. At least get a desktop activated charcoal smoke filter with a fan. Great video. Love these old British beauties.
I've said it before but I'll say it again, there is no better banter than that between Mark and Neil. Mark's sounds of disgust at decades of stratified BLECK that have built up on that keyboard was just majestic -- hahaha.
Wow that space is looking great in a video where you're actually using it rather than building it.
Enjoyed this video love stuff like this thanks lads
I liked the green label more, but I'm biased, because I like green. Other than that - stellar video as usual.
If you like green you'll definitely like the next video on Tuesday! 😃
2 of my favourite UA-camrs working together. Love it. Good work guys 💪💯
How did Neil know to buy your favourite doughnuts, Mark?
Ah, dirty sockets. Brought some of the best men down!
Such an great transformation with it's new decal. Great work gentlemen 👍
I fondly remember playing boulder dash & hopper as a child, quality entertainment as always lads.
The exhibition area is looking great, I hope that when I come to visit Neil will consider doing a live cleaning montage?